Softbank Risks Debt Rerun with Sprint Deal

By

Daisuke Wakabayashi and

Atsuko Fukase

Updated Oct. 12, 2012 5:53 p.m. ET

TOKYO—Softbank Corp.'s potential acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corp. would reload the Japanese mobile operator with heavy debt, only a few years after its strategy of leverage-fueled acquisitions forced it to the brink of collapse during the financial crisis.

There were signs Friday that Softbank would have little trouble financing the deal for the U.S. wireless carrier with loans from cash-rich Japanese banks. Nonetheless, investors...